We had a birthday lunch for my friend Jo today. So much food, I feel like it's going to take days to recover!

I've never had an egg roll before (I've never come across them here - spring rolls are much more common) but after finding there were no spring roll wrappers at the shops, I found an egg roll wrapper recipe that was a very thin crepe, so I veganised it. I baked them rather than deep-fried them & they're kind of crunchy & chewy, & I think much nicer than spring rolls. I'll be making these again. Also made a chilli-lime dipping sauce.

Next we had a roasted pumpkin & leek soup that my friend Mark made. He is the Soup Master.

He also made four salads & I made the mayo & dressings. Potato salad with dijon mayonnaise, mixed pepper salad, a rocket & tomato salad with pesto dressing, & a green salad with broad beans, avocado, etc, with a lemon-mustard vinaigrette.

Chickpea bastilla. I didn't follow a particular recipe, I just winged it. The chickpeas were in a spicy gravy with leeks & celery, cooked with saffron, cinnamon, ginger & paprika. In place of the egg layer, I used some "yolky" sauce, & sprinkled toasted ground almonds on top before wrapping it all up in phyllo.

A little of everything...

Pink Lady Apple Frangipane tart - recipe from VPITS. I was inspired to make this after seeing how great this looked! viewtopic.php?f=31&t=23010

Served with whipped cashew cream (this is the soft whip from the recipe on my blog)...

I don't have a proper recipe I'm afraid. For the crepes I used 1.5 cups plain flour, 2 tablespoons arrowroot, 2 tablespoons chickpea flour, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, a dash of toasted sesame oil, a little salt, & enough water to make a batter with the consistency of pouring cream. I thinned the batter a little more as I was making the crepes because I wanted them really thin. The crepes were slightly translucent when you held them up to the light - thinner than I'd normally make crepes. The texture of the cooked crepes was kind of elastic due to the arrowroot & they were a bit sticky, which was good, as when you rolled them, the edges sort of sealed themselves. I brushed them with canola oil & baked them at 180C for about 20-30 minutes until crispy, turning them over half way through. They weren't quite as crisp when I reheated them, but they were still perfectly fine.

As for the filling, I just make up spring roll filling from whatever I have & don't follow a recipe. I cooked up some yellow split peas because I didn't have any split mung beans (moong dal), & stir-fried onion, garlic, julienned carrots, cabbage, tofu, thai chillies, & I had some seitan chorizo, so I crumbled some of that in too & seasoned it all with light soy sauce & tom yum paste. Then I added vermicelli rice noodles & chopped coriander. I'm pretty sure that's all I put in this batch...

Can I be your new best friend so I can have all of that for my birthday?

_________________"That is some very responsible yolo-ing." - allularpunk"We are simple people, my husband is a mechanic with dirty hands, my daughter is a blue haired lesbian who's favorite activity is making people uncomfortable." - torque

Hey, an imaginary cafe is way more fun than an imaginary fan club! Plus, my imaginary cafe actually exists, in an imaginary sort of way, although I've been neglecting it for a really long time now. So, um, there!

_________________"That is some very responsible yolo-ing." - allularpunk"We are simple people, my husband is a mechanic with dirty hands, my daughter is a blue haired lesbian who's favorite activity is making people uncomfortable." - torque

Hey, an imaginary cafe is way more fun than an imaginary fan club! Plus, my imaginary cafe actually exists, in an imaginary sort of way, although I've been neglecting it for a really long time now. So, um, there!

Tofulish wrote:

Do you mean to say that the "Karena is awesome" fan club is not awesome? Pretty sure this disqualifies you as her BFF

No need to argue ladies, there's plenty of me to go around! :) I'm loving the sound of my own imaginary fan club - I have a sneaking suspicion that my actual friends only bother to take my calls because they think there might be some pizza or cake in it for them - bribery works for me if that's what it takes.

Everything looks amazing, but I had a bastilla exactly once in my pregan days, and I've wanted to recreate one ever since. I really want several slices of the one you made right now.

_________________"Noooo! Karyn, you have to stop posting old Jensen pics. He looks way too smooth in those pics, like if I touch his face it'll feel like silk or bosoms or something."-mixmaster_moIt's Raining Kale